I got permanent status here. I’m in a state of partial disbelief. It was, by the standards of my existence, a psychologically challenging final 72 hours. Due to some late complications, and multiple confusions in the gov’t office, there was a great deal of suspense, in my mind, especially during the final 24 hours. During which I was to some extent crazy at times. There are some real cultural differences that this process has highlighted, morseo than anything else I’ve experienced here. Amid ambiguity trust/faith are sometimes crucial, sometimes all that’s left.
In this country a great deal of importance is placed on whether you use your middle name or initial in paperwork. People here are genuinely confused and deeply surprised when I tell them use of a middle initial is common in America even in important documents. And really their way makes a lot of sense, a great deal of sense, because we can’t rule out the possibility of someone having a one-letter middle name. I kept telling them it was obvious enough that First M Last is the same as First Middle Last. And yet it obviously isn’t the same. I’m only this moment realizing why one of the immigration workers was genuinely perlexed that the use of (only) my middle initial on my passport did not cause me concern when the passport was first issued. I told him it never crossed my mind, and felt quite sure that there was no reason it ought to have crossed my mind. But, stricltly speaking, rightly speaking, the name on my passport is wrong. Because my name isn’t First M Last. It’s First Middle Last. I do not have a one-letter middle name. I just don’t. And there isn’t even a period after my middle initial on the passport… which would at least explicitly signal that the letter is an initial and not an entire name one letter in length. This was not nearly the only confusion that occurred in the final week.
Multiple times in the process I had to throw myself at the care of strangers. Every time I did, it worked extremely well. This included two different lawyers in two different businesses on two different days, to whom I did not pay one cent. It took them no more than a few minutes each to assist. One did so by physically accompanying me into the gov’t office (across the street from their office) to get clarification on one particular piece of paperwork that I had forgotten. I believed it was a standard and crucial part of every visit to the office. It was listed as a requirement on the website. I had remembered to bring this form to literally every other immigration appointment this year, but somehow did not bring it to my final and most important appointment, by far, of the year. The answer, fortunately, was no, that piece of paperwork is never required in this city, only in certain of the country’s other immigration offices.
Thursday night I slept very badly and at around 4 in the morning was reviewing Guatemala’s immigration requirements. Because today, Friday, is the last day of the year the gov’t office is open. The final day before a holiday is not a great time to get things done. There was some risk, I thought, that I might not have even temporary status beyond Dec 31. If yesterday had been a complete fail, my plan was to go to the border on Dec 30 and get a tourist visa so I could stay here for perhaps a month longer while I dealt with things like getting my security deposit back, packing, making the final decision on Guate vs Ecuador, etc.
The fear greatly subsided at around 9 a.m. local time yesterday because I saw there was someone working the desk who I knew understood my case well. So I was not going to have to try getting someone up to speed on the situation. I was dealing with someone who knew everything already. So then I felt pretty optimistic.
The proceedings involved two payments, one for the commencement of an investigation of some sort, and the other payment if you pass the investigation and are awarded permanent status. And I understood that the investigation rarely results in a rejection, because I think they actually do the investigation before they take your first payment. But I wasn’t sure. So I did not really relax fully until they were asking for my height and weight, etc. I knew that meant a card was being issued. And in the same breath they said something about taking my second payment, so then I knew with complete certainty. Though today I still had some afterimage of doubt in my body, along with nervous system fatigue, etc. I still don’t believe it fully. One more night of sleep will get rid of this residue.
Yesterday evening I thought to check if the card has an expiration date. It doesn’t. I find that difficult to comprehend, as virtually every other card of any sort that I’ve held in my hands has had an expiration date. But there really is none. It has my birthdate on it, and an expedition date, which is the date when you were granted permanent status. 18/12/2025.